Milkweeds, Etc.

Common Milkweed/Asclepias syriaca. Note the yellow thing at 9:00. That’s half a pollen packet or pollinia.

A pair of pollinia are connected into a saddlebag-like pollinium. Here’s a pollinium attached to a Brown-belted Bumblebee’s foot.

It’s possible to get too many of these things attached to you, weighing you down. (This page details the hazards of milkweeds rather nicely.) In this case, this Western Honeybee/Apis mellifera is stuck to a pollinium still attached to the flower. She struggled to break free, then landed below, actively trying to knock the pollinium off.

A couple more on the feet of a Melissodes long-horn bee, this time from Butterfly Milkweed/Asclepias tuberosa.

This improbable thing seems to be Showy Milkweed/Asclepias speciosa. Maybe a version for the garden trade?

This Silver-spotted Skipper/Epargyreus clarus has a pollinium attached, too.

Most pollen is dusty, as your nose may well know. This Megachile stirred up a mess of it from these pea family flowers. Milkweeds—and orchids—are unusual in producing their pollen in sticky packets.